Kenko’s interchangeable lenses digital camera (C-mount)

In addition to the previous specs, Kenko's interchangeable lenses C-mount digital camera will not have a built-in flash but it will be compatible with other Tokina products like lenses, flashes, and field scopes. The camera will have a SD card slot. Expected to be released in Summer of 2011. Nikon F a T mount adapters are also planned:

Wonder what the final product will look like, and whether it would be sold as a Kenko product or sold under some other name (Perhaps Tokina, perhaps Flashpoint etc)

ZDP-189

Looks like it has a Kenko badge on it below the display.

pnutz

That may only be on the mockup

mambastik

Searching through eBay, C-mounts are pretty tiny. Screw on an adapter with a legacy zoom lens and the body might even snap.

ZDP-189

Please don’t be so quick to dismiss that with which you are less familiar.

The C-mount is plenty strong enough. I have several C-mount lenses. One is a heavy Cosmicar TV lens, a 75mm f/1.4, which I use on my GF-1. Which brings me to my second point…

They are dirt cheap for what they are. The 75/1.4 was a gift, but I think it only cost about $150. On the M4/3 with the crop factor, it’s like a 150mm focal length with a F/1.4 exposure characteristics but a more manageable, but still dramatic, F/2.8 depth of field.

I also have some smaller C-mount lenses, an ES2514MC (25mm F/1.4 1/2″ C) and a US3517MC (35mm F/1.7 2/3″ C). The 25mm has some really funky but artistic focus effects on the M4/3, but the 35mm is less so. These are the equivalent of a fast fifty and a 65/1.7 on a M4/3 . I want to shoot wider lenses, there’s a whole lot out there but they’re not compatible with M4/3… they only work on C-mount.

There are drawbacks, admittedly. Firstly, the small 1/2/3″ sensor is only as big as a Ricoh CX4, so don’t expect commercial quality image rendition, but a decent consumer grade is definately within reach.

Secondly, the 4x crop factor is extreme. Luckily, there are many cheap lenses with a very short focal length. My 75mm would become a 300mm F/1.4, good for sports days or bird watching (and very fast). Actual digiscoping would be out of this world performance. The 11mm diagonal of a 1/ 2/3″ sensor is a still bigger than a human eye pupil (3-7mm) but the conversion optics will be much less extreme that would be needed to bend it onto a 22mm M4/3, a 27mm APS-C, or a 43mm full frame sensor. That will make a huge difference in image quality. It should also be a good choice for pairing onto night vision equipment, which larger sensor cameras do badly.

Are you now starting to see why some people are excited about the prospect of a small-sensor C-mount camera?

asdasd

same for me, but they will never finish it. it will be just another product, made once, forgotten few days after release with no follower, no accessories of any kind to be found etc.

ZDP-189

I’ve been looking at the detailed show photos shown on the impress watch website, made a list of the major system components and summarised their specifications below:

There are also some lenses of the same lens series and mounting spec in the Tokina product line up that were not shown:
KCM-7528MP Tokina Megapixel CCTV 75mm F/2.8~F/16~C 0.3mm M30.5 P0.5 57.8mm 113g Not shown (new)
KCM-0914MP5 Tokina Ultra High Res 5M 9mm F/1.4~F/16~C 0.1mm M46 × 0.75 54.0mm 180g Not shown (new)